Much has been written about the railroad systems of the U.S.A. and in particular about the uniting of the vast distant parts of the infant country by the transcontinental railroad. While equipment has slowly modernized over the years, little progress has been made in the mode of actual construction of a railroad.
As is known the trackage or track bed comprises a pair of spaced rails usually made of oak in this country due to availability and durability, mounted upon a plurality of aligned spaced cross ties which are spaced on 16" centers here in the U.S.A. and which lay in a ballast bed of crushed rock. Tie plates, often referred to as baseplates are mounted upon the cross ties and these receive the track lengths therein. Since track lengths are of a finite length, they need to be and are joined together by fishplates which may also be referred to as joint bars. Specially shaped spikes having an off center head are used to retain the track within the tie plates. See FIG. 1.
It is these spikes that form the subject matter of this invention. Usually 5 spikes are used on each side of the tie to hold the two rails to that particular tie plate, often abbreviated as "tie". Whereas conventional spikes have a solid shaft and solid head, the improved railroad spike of this invention has a full length bore through the head and shaft thereby yielding a hollow spike.
Conventional spikes tend to split the oak tie upon being driven into the wood. Therefore it is a first object to provide a railroad spike that reduces the tendency of wood to split when the spikes are driven.
It is another object to provide a railroad spike with improved track holding power.
Yet another object is to provide a hollow core spike.
A further object is to provide a spike that is open at the bottom and receives wood into its core during the driving process.
A still further object is to provide a spike in which the wood received in its core can be locked into place by the action of a drift punch.
An additional object is to provide a railroad spike which permits moisture to permeate down into the tie to thereby reduce internal splitting of the wood.
An important object is to provide a railroad spike which requires less effort to drive it into place.
These and other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.
The invention accordingly comprises the product possessing the features, properties and the relation of components which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.